MELBOURNE MINT ROBBERY.

NZ Truth, Issue 105, 22 June 1907, Page 7

MELBOURNE MINT ROBBERY.

MOST MYSTIFYING AND PECULIAR. : Who Was the Thief? Was There Lax Custody ?—Remafkably "Easy" Scoop—"lnside" or "Outside"—A Most Unsafe Depositary. Some Early Reminiscences.

List, and a tale I'll unfold, Of three little bars of gold,'' They were stowed by a feller, Away m the cellar— A cellar nigh forty years old. . The three little bars of gold • Weigh' d four hundred ounces, all told, And as they lay there together, They swore at the weather. And shivered and shook with the cold. Then one of 'em got up and spoke, A short little, fat little bloke, And he called it a sin, To be closely locked m,, Like a common old drunk m the "choke." then Number Two got up and said, As he angrily nodded his head— "The man who did this"— And he spoke with a hiss— "I could wish that the founder, was ; dead." It was now up to poor, Number Three, .Who said— "Brothers with you I agree. It's a dastardly plot, And we're meant for the pot ; But there's none of that business for me," Then the two little bars of gold, Both hearkened as . Number Three told How he'd thought out a scheme Of whiob no one would dream— A scheme that was cunning and foold. As they listened; to Number Three's views, ■.■•-.. They danced with delight at .the news, For- there on the floor Was a good foot or more Of the wire that lock-pickers. use.

Everyone has a sneaking interest m a cool and cunning theft, just as "every woman loves a lover." To those who "have" is t/he interest that : their goods, chattels, and possessions may be the objects of oredatory at.tempts at some other time; and m those who "have not" a big "scoop," even by dishonest means, arouses a sentiment ' of • envy for the perpetrator. 'Tis, perhaps), unfortunate that this is, so, but human nature is a remarkable commodity. ' "The empty man/ t'lie Latin proverb tells us, "sings m the presence Of the thief" ; but even foe. has ,an interest m a daring robbery. Certainly m its was the occurrence at the Melbourne Mint, where three bars 'of gold, weighing 4200z., and valued at, £1,700, deposited by a Bendigo buyer, were stolen between a recent Monday : night'- and- Tuesday moraing has aroused no small measure ol public concern. On the face of it, the theft was committed upon a wenconceived and. -PRE-ARRANGED PLAN. Probably it will be found m the end, if the truth is ever revealed, that the robbery was the outcome of a deliberate Scheme .carefully and long ■planned, and. that the thief or thieves only awaited the psychological momerit ,when there was. a valuable deposit m the lodge sale m order to make a bigj haul, doubt tine theft was committed by someone with a knowledge of the "inside running," unless, it was 'an instance of sheer luck failing to a clever gang of thieves. The episode, at any rate, does disclose a reprehensible system of control over gold placed m the custody of the officials. That large quantities of gold should 'be deposited in' ah ordinary safe m an easilyaccessible apartment, from which the single custodian is called away on duty at different periods during the 4 night, is, surely, a reflection . upon the management of the Mint, whether any individual official temporarily m charge may or may not be held responsible. The position of the lodge, where the robbery took place, and the entire absence of any safe-guards, save an ordinary ' 'safe , ' ' pr aetioaUy offered an

INCENTIVE TO COURAGEOUS THIEVES The building, which stands at the corner of William and Little Lo-ns-dale-streets, was almost open to the world.. Nor can the authorities be • held entirely "blameless- for permittingsuch a lax system of protection to exist- • . . '

Mel-bourne had to -wait long lor the establishment- of a Mint. Although Victoria was and is the greatest gold-producing, country m the world, the earlier discovery of the precious metal m New South Wales, together' with the original political relations of the two States, not only enabled Sydney, to secure the possession of. a Mint as early as 1855, but deferred the. -inauguration 'Of a 'State : coining! institution for very many years., As ' far back as 1852 Latrobe had request- ■! Ed that a Mint should 'be set up m Melbourne. Then .m December, '59, both Houses of the Victorian Legis-^ lature adopted ati address to the' Queen praying for the establishment of a branch of th? Royal Mint, and, m oreover , asking that ■ . goltt coined therein might be made* legal tender throughout the British Empire, for at ilmt time the legal tender currency of coins struck at the Sydney 'branch was,, curiously, confined , to Australia, New Zealand, Van Dieme-n's Land, Ceylon, Hong Kong, and tho Mauritius. But the

SYDNEY INFLUNCE was still strong m Dowmns-street, and the petition was set on one side. Anotiier Parliamentary address went to England m .'64, but. it was not until June, 1872, that the first and present Melbourne Mint was opened. Colonel (afterwards Sir) Edward Wolstenholme Ward, an ex-officer of the Royal Engineers), who had previously been Deputy Master m Sydney, was the first master of the Melbourne Mint. The first issue of coin, 40,000 sovereigns, took place on July 8, 1872. Since that date gold to the coined value of £115,000,000 m "quids" and "half-quids" has -been minted m Melbourne, the greater portion being from Victorian gold. It is noteworthy that of this great bulk of gold 82 per cent, has been

'■ SENT OUT OF AUSTRALIA,

only, 18 per centi being retained m

Yes, all hands were now filled with delight, So they worked on till, far m the niffht, And they opened the doors, With a roar of applause, And stood ready to put up a fight. They ,waited ; but, lo and behold, The three little bars' of gold Saw nobody there To Rive them a scare,. . And then fairly With laughter, they roll'd. As the - sentry would come around soon, - They skipped by the light of the moon, ' : / ■ ' . And then out m ' street They chuckled a tr"eat, : .-..:■ And decamped m a bally 'balloon. To their way, it might have been , rurii, C■ .. ■• ; ; /';. ••■ ■": " But' the.- sentries were cut up and ■done, For >whetr they got there, . The cupboard was bare, And so the poor dogs had none.' The moral is perfectly clear, But not for a thousand a year Would anyone say :• How the gold walked away, While so many people were near. Three little bars of gold ; &.re . they wand'Tin^ about m the Cold? Hiave they sailed to the moon In their little balloon, The three little bars of sold ?

the CQtnmdnwealth.. There is subject for much political consideration m these bare- official, statistics.

The site of > the Mint m Williamj street occupies an area of two acres. It had been f ormerly occupied by a miniature Crystal Palace on the lines of the great Exhibition Building erected m 1851 m Hyde Park, London, which is now a iampie of amusement at Sydehliam, on the fringe or the Modern .'Babylon. This Melbourne imitation was f'run" on the lines of George Coppin's subs&quenl, venture, ' ' Oremorne Gardens, ' ' at Richmond, where, if tradition speaks truly,' there were "rorty" tames m the old days. Although nominally under the control of the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, who' appoints the deputy master > who m turn appoints his subordinates, the institution is practically Victorian. The present deputy master is E. S. Wardell, who was formerly Superintendent of the Bullion Office (what an ewticinir sound/ this has !•), ahd^whose father, by the way, was the well-known Melbourne architect who was responsible for the designs of the as-yet-uncompleted St. Patrick's Cathedral. Wardell's predecessor was Robert Barton. . One of the previous masters was V. Delves BrougJi'ton, who invenit&d one <rf' tiie most valuable assaying/ appiiances m the place. It is an institution where promotion apparently goes by lon^ service, for all i-he senior staff are old hands i there) and have worked their way up. '

Before the establishment of the Mint m Melbourne : the Treasury, both m its present location m £>nr4ngstreet and. at its former sife^n Cpllins-street west, was the'eity^

DEPOSITARY OF GOLD. It was m August, 1851, that arrangements. were made for a weekly armed escort to' convey gold from Buninyong, and subsequently from Ballarat, to (jfeelong, and thence by boat to Melbourne. The Commissioners of the Goldfields had to give security m a joint bond of themselves and two sureties m £2,000 each for the faithful discharge of their duties. The charge for the escort was 1 per cent, on washed gold, to be estimated at £"3 per ounce, and! on sold mixed with a larger proportion of stone at the rate of £2 10 s per ounce. And then, as now, the Government, while promising tbatwery precaution would be taken to provide for the safety of , the. gold, accepted, no responsibility. The officer m charge of the escort was directed; never to lose sight of the treasure during transit, and at night the gold' ws,s to.be 'deposited "m the room wjiere the officer himself is." -On reaching Melbourne the officer had to hand* his charge personally to the 'Treasurer.

r . THE FIRST ESCORT started from Ballarat on September. 28, 1851, with an officer, two white troopers, and two blacks, members of the. Victorian Native Police, m charge. But although many attacks were made upon gold escorts, very few were successful. Of the latter, one of the most notable was the robbery from an escort at Mclvor, now Heathcbte, on June 15, .1853, when the troopers were overpowered by an armed body of men, and gold Valued.' t a,b about- «)SBOO w«ta otolcnl Shots were exchanged b etween the thieves and the police, and one of the latter was seriously wounded.

In the; present prosaic times there is less romance, even, v criminality: has become more ingenious and scientific. After all, Australia, lavish producer of gold a,s it has been, has been comparatively free from extensive gold robberies. One of the most prominent of these, perhaps, was the singular robbery which took place m Sydney m '28. >By means of a tunnel excavated from the opposite side of George Street a gang of convicts sucoe&ded m entering the Bank of Australia, and stealing £750 m British silver, 2030 Spanish dollars each valued at ss), 14,500 notes, and a number of bills. The robberies of gold on and from mail steamers are of a later date. The discovery of a "plant" of golden- '-'googies" under the Williamson pier will also be recalled.

The present sensation is, however, upon different lines. That the robbery, was worked "by someone with "inside" knowledge is admitted. No one who did not possess an intimate acquaintance with the Mint

lodge, and with the custom of depositing gold m the safe there could have been responsible. There has never previously m the 35 years' history of the Melbourne .Mint; been any robbery there. The regulations for the minute and careful weighing of the &>ld m its transmutation from its natural state into the

ALWAYS, ACCEPTABLE "YELLOW BOYS"

who no"w bear the counterfeit presentment qf King; Ned, are so exact, and are so precisely observed m the daily routine that none of the sixteen clerks and thirty-six artificers; men and boys, employed at the Mint, can make away with even a pennyweight of the precious metal. Even the sweepings of the floors are burnt m the furnaces to recover any lurking grains of gold, and the crucibles m which the gold is smelted are' broken up;* and treated -by fire and chemical processes. But it was not m the Mint propei> that the recent robbery occurred. Gold received at the mint is acknowledged by' an official' receipt, and responsibility is then accepted.. In tins case the circumstances are different. The facts arc very simple, however difficult is the solution of the problem set the detectives. At 11 o'clock on a reoent Saturday nighit n . Bendigo gold buyer, Edward M. Pascoe, who half an hour earlier had arrived by train from the Golden City, casually walked up Williamson-street carrying a J • ' •" ' '

SMALL BLACK "HAND BAG. " Had. the "talent" kriqwn the contents of the receptacle, Pascoe would doubtless have been "laid ouj;." For the little bag contained three little ingots of sold, weighing m .a11,4200z., about 351 b., and worth £1,700. The largest of the -, blocks was only Gin. long and about 2£in. sciuare- Pascoe 'had frequently deposited gold at the Mint entrance m a' similar way, and he signed without demur the customary. -form indemnify mo; the Mint officials and the police from all responsibility. To the ordinary citizen the fact of a man coming' to Melbourne late a-t ndgh't, carrying.;. 1 , a valuable sold freight through the, streets, and leaving, it inreturn fot'-a simple receipt may appear peculiar-. But possibly familiarity may breed carelessness, if riot contempt. With Pascoe gold is, apparently, ' only a trading commodity like grain. Anyhow, he left the gold with Senior-Constable Barclay' at the Mint lodge, and that officer placed it m a safe m the office. Barclay has Keen thirty years m the police force, and he was selected as officer m charge of the Mint station because of his character. With, him on the station were • constables Wilkinson and Black. The latter Was only there temporarily, as he was relieving Constable Lampard ' who is away onsick leave. These three constables take eight-hour turns, and at regular intervals during every night the officer on duty meets a senior constable, and with him makes a journey through the Mint buildings. The inspection occupies ten minutes or a quarter of an hour.

PASCOE'S PRECIOUS PARCELS . were secured m. the safe at ten O'<* clock on Monday night, when Bar-, clay saw them. If Monday had npt s been a holiday the gold would have been .transferred to the main* :bt»ildino;s long before. Wilkinson remained on duty until 11. 30,\. and went' Bptind' the whole place with inspecting senior 'constables. : ; A% ithat hour 1 Wilkinson^ wa? relieved by- Blacky who' was visited during the night once by Senior Constable Ivy and twice by Senior-Constablo McCormick. But at 10.30 on Tuesday morning the safe was opened, and the ingots were* missing. Where had' they gone, and who had taken them ? Barclay had the key of the safe m his vest pocket, and- when lie went to his bedroom at the other end of the lodge, about 20 or 30 feet away from the office, he placed his vest at the end of the bed, and it was there m the morning when the robbery was dis* covered. Naturally Barclay,- who resides m the lodge with his wife and two .young sons, was astounded. What key was used to open the safe? Did the thief, acquainted with the place, creep along to Barclay's bedroom, take the key, go back to the office, open the safe, and then replace the key m Barclay's vest? 1 The deputy master has another key, which was duly found m a sealed envelope, where he had placed it. ■ , WAS THERE A THIRD KEY? About ten years ago a key of this safe was lost, and afterwards the lock was constructed on a different plan.

, If the thief entered from outside, as he could easily, have done, for ,the two windows (Bft from the ground), m William-street and the four windows m Little Lonsdalestreet, are unbarred, and nearly always unlocked, he must have a knowledge of the interior m order to commit the robbery m the ten minutes or so that the constable on duty would be present on his. tour of his main buildings. Moreover, the robber, if he came from outside must have knowledge or a strong suspicion that the safe, contained valuables. On the sill of on© of the William-street windows is a print as of a man's boot. But, up to the present, that is the only clue which the detectives have, and practically the whole of the C.1.8. stag is on the job. The position at present is by no means a pleasant one for the ■tnret?. pracers, on Mint duly;. " -No one, will envy them their situation until' this mystery is^cleared up. Yet there is

NO GROUND FOR SUSPICION against them. "Prospecting" parties have dug over likely "plants" m the Mint grounds, but there is no trace of the plunder. An expert criminal would, probably, have little difficulty m disposing of the gold, for recent revelations have proved the existence m Australia of dishonest gold-buyers So far the robbery, how it was accomplished, and by whom, is a complete mystery, and will take some finding out If, as suggested by a jocundi jingler, the "three little bars of gold" got out M on their own " and went on a "jamboree" to purchase those Metropolitan delights which only gold can buy, they could not, apparently, have so entirely covered up their tracks as their purloiner seems to have done. There are some suspicions, and, as a rule the Sherlock Holmeses have many '/theories." But what is a . detective "Ihcon" vorth against the practical plunderer who got away with Pascoe's "pewter?/'-